it's coming on christmas...and those other holidays
the decorations are up, the temps are down, it's not snowing yet, but christmas spirit is definitely abound! more importantly, i can finally start enjoying my favorite season after wrapping our last major production of the year. (LA is fun, but it definitely doesn't feel like christmas when it's 80 degrees outside).
but this year, i've found myself distraught by the modern/futuristic holiday concepts that many advertisers have chosen to invoke in their campaigns this year. you may also have noticed the abundance of metallic silvers and reds, blinding white backgrounds, peace signs in the place of snowflakes, blue lights instead of white, trancy holiday hybrids where you'd expect to hear classic christmas tunes. in all of these cases, it appears to me that the social mandate for political correctness has taken another step toward a complete secularization of the holiday by suppressing traditional christmas imagery in favor of futuristic chrismuhkwanzikah decor, and that's just not necessary.
of course, it can be argued that "traditional holiday imagery" was at one point progressive in itself, and in some cases arose directly from the imaginations of the advertising industry (i.e. thank coca-cola for santa claus as we know him today). what can't be argued, however, is that christmas imagery, whether religious or secular, is just that--christmas imagery. the infusion of hannukah and kwanzaa (in recent years) is more or less a direct result of america's need to be politically correct, and madison avenue's desire to capitalize on that need.
nothing against hannukah, but i know for a fact that it is a teensy holiday in comparison to the higher holy days in the jewish faith that happen to lack the secular fanfare. however, the fact that it happens to fall around the same time as christmas, and also happens to involve the act of gift-giving, has elevated its relevance by exponential proportions. but who is really responsible for that? gluttonous christians with a guilty conscience? or jews who want their fair share? (i don't even really know what kwanzaa is, so i'm just going to leave that one alone).
like always, it's safe to blame the media and its symbiotic relationship with advertisers who want anyone and everyone that can breathe to unload sleigh-fulls of cash between thanksgiving and december 25th, and could care less whether or not the consumers believe jesus christ or santa claus was born on christmas day, as long as they're buying gifts for someone.
regardless of how it happened, the holiday season of today is a hybrid of holidays across multiple religions, chock full of religious and secular imagery, blinking lights and wrapped gifts, and it doesn't really matter where it started. it has always been my hypothesis that we, as a society, need christmas. we need a holiday season. we need family traditions, and office parties (like the one i'm going to in 20 minutes), and gift-giving, and decorations, and seasonal cheer. if not christmas, we would have fuond something else. and most importantly, regardless of what you believe, the holidays are for everyone, and that's not a bad thing.
but this year, i've found myself distraught by the modern/futuristic holiday concepts that many advertisers have chosen to invoke in their campaigns this year. you may also have noticed the abundance of metallic silvers and reds, blinding white backgrounds, peace signs in the place of snowflakes, blue lights instead of white, trancy holiday hybrids where you'd expect to hear classic christmas tunes. in all of these cases, it appears to me that the social mandate for political correctness has taken another step toward a complete secularization of the holiday by suppressing traditional christmas imagery in favor of futuristic chrismuhkwanzikah decor, and that's just not necessary.
of course, it can be argued that "traditional holiday imagery" was at one point progressive in itself, and in some cases arose directly from the imaginations of the advertising industry (i.e. thank coca-cola for santa claus as we know him today). what can't be argued, however, is that christmas imagery, whether religious or secular, is just that--christmas imagery. the infusion of hannukah and kwanzaa (in recent years) is more or less a direct result of america's need to be politically correct, and madison avenue's desire to capitalize on that need.
nothing against hannukah, but i know for a fact that it is a teensy holiday in comparison to the higher holy days in the jewish faith that happen to lack the secular fanfare. however, the fact that it happens to fall around the same time as christmas, and also happens to involve the act of gift-giving, has elevated its relevance by exponential proportions. but who is really responsible for that? gluttonous christians with a guilty conscience? or jews who want their fair share? (i don't even really know what kwanzaa is, so i'm just going to leave that one alone).
like always, it's safe to blame the media and its symbiotic relationship with advertisers who want anyone and everyone that can breathe to unload sleigh-fulls of cash between thanksgiving and december 25th, and could care less whether or not the consumers believe jesus christ or santa claus was born on christmas day, as long as they're buying gifts for someone.
regardless of how it happened, the holiday season of today is a hybrid of holidays across multiple religions, chock full of religious and secular imagery, blinking lights and wrapped gifts, and it doesn't really matter where it started. it has always been my hypothesis that we, as a society, need christmas. we need a holiday season. we need family traditions, and office parties (like the one i'm going to in 20 minutes), and gift-giving, and decorations, and seasonal cheer. if not christmas, we would have fuond something else. and most importantly, regardless of what you believe, the holidays are for everyone, and that's not a bad thing.
posted by mark at 6:17 PM
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